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Massachusetts · November 3, 2026 general election · Statewide ballot measure

Question 2: what your vote means

Collective Bargaining for CPCS Employees. On every Massachusetts ballot. Official sources checked October 21, 2026.

Question 2 · Law proposed by initiative petition

Collective Bargaining for CPCS Employees

Official ballot title (quoted exactly)

Question 2: Law proposed by initiative petition — Collective Bargaining for CPCS Employees. Do you approve of a law summarized below, on which no vote was taken by the Senate or the House of Representatives before May 6, 2026?

Ballot question as printed in the 2026 Information for Voters, Secretary of the Commonwealth. On the ballot, the Attorney General’s summary (linked below) appears beneath the question.

A YES vote means:

Employees of the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS), the state’s public defender agency, could form a union and bargain collectively with their employer.

A NO vote means:

The law governing labor relations for CPCS employees would not change.

What it would change

  • Who is affected: CPCS employees and the agency, which provides lawyers to people who cannot afford one.
  • Funding: after signing a collective bargaining agreement, CPCS would have to ask the Governor for the money needed to fund it.
  • Taxes and fees: none.
  • Fiscal impact (Executive Office of Administration and Finance): may affect state finances; difficult to project because bargaining outcomes are uncertain.

Official arguments, summarized

Short neutral summaries of the arguments printed in the official voters’ pamphlet. The committees that wrote them are responsible for their content. Read the full text at the link below.

Argument for

Supporters say CPCS employees, unlike other state employees, lack the choice to organize and bargain over wages and working conditions.

Written by: Tom McKeever, Labor Unions for Public Counsel Workers Rights

Argument against

No organized group submitted an argument against; the Secretary of the Commonwealth prepared one from the Legislature’s majority report, which says collective bargaining could disrupt management of an independent judicial branch agency and its ability to respond to caseloads.

Arguments for and against Question 2, 2026 Information for Voters

Who supports it and who opposes it

These lists come from official campaign filings (registered committees) and public endorsements, each linked to its source. They are not complete, and SaveYourState does not endorse anyone listed. Lists checked October 30, 2026.

Who supports it

Who opposes it

Not yet compiled

Official sources

SaveYourState is independent and nonpartisan, not a government site, and does not take positions on ballot measures. This explainer describes effects only, using the official ballot title, explanatory statement, full text, and fiscal impact statement. If anything here differs from those documents, the official documents control.